New Caprica: Worthy of Surviving
by Darklighter108
Summary: The story of those left behind on New Caprica. Based on a conversation in Collaborators in which Adama states that they left thousands of people on the planet. All OCs with some cameo appearances by some of the main cast in the first chapter.
1. Prologue

**I OWN ONLY MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA AND ALL BSG CHARACTERS BELONG TO RON MOORE AND SCI FI (SYFY, WHATEVER). CREDIT FOR THE ORIGINAL IDEA COMES FROM MY FRIEND WHILE WE WERE WATCHING THE EPISODES. THE STORY AND CHARACTERS ARE MY OWN. I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF A GREAT WRITER, JUST COULDN'T GET THE IDEA OUT OF MY HEAD.**

**NEW CAPRICA  
**

**Worthy of Surviving**

Prologue

Keith Ryder crouched behind a tent and watched as Colonial One, home to President Gaius Baltar, but probably now occupied by former President Laura Roslin, lifted off the ground and rose slowly into the air. Keith cursed under his breath as the ship rose higher, then turned away and covered his eyes as the ship jumped away, sending up cloud of dust and debris. Frustrated and angry, he kicked a bottle that lay near his feet and grabbed the tent he hid behind, ripping it from the ground and throwing it towards the dissipating cloud of dust.

FRAK. He had been no more than 30 meters away from the ship before he heard the roar of its engines and knew he would never reach it in time. Keith had joined up with the resistance during its inception, confident that eventually Admiral Adama would come rescue them. The Admiral wouldn't just abandon them to the cylons. Shortly after joining, however, Keith had been rounded up by the cylons and kept in detention. After countless days and endless questionings, he had been released literally moments before the evacuation had begun. The main road, which would have led him straight to the landing area where Colonial One had been grounded, had been packed with cylons firing on the people trying to get to the ships, forcing Keith to take the long way around, ducking behind the tents nearer to the river. Soon all the ships had jumped away, leaving only Colonial One.

* * * * * *

Lost in his thoughts, Keith jumped when he heard someone call out from behind him. He turned around to see a man in muddy wet clothes walking towards him. Behind the man, a woman was carrying one child in her arms and had another by the hand. Their clothes were also wet and Keith assumed that they had crossed the narrow river that ran through the city.

"Excuse me, sir," the man said, stuttering with a combination of cold and fright, "We didn't make it to our ship in time, and when I saw the other ships jump away, I didn't know what to do. Can you help us? My daughter is very sick."

Keith put a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder, but couldn't think of anything to say. The woman caught up and the man took his daughter from her hands. She turned to him. "Are we the only ones left?"

Keith looked around but didn't see anybody, but that didn't mean anything. Clearly the people who had been closest to the ships had made it in time, but the city was huge, with a population of over 38,000 people. There was no way that everyone had made it to a ship, especially if they had lived on the outskirts of the city like these people had.

To the woman he said "I'm not sure, but the most likely place that people would gather would probably be the detention center, now that the cylons have evacuated." He turned and started to head towards the marketplace, but then decided against it and turned to go back along the same way he had come, among the tents in case any cylons had been left behind, intentionally or unintentionally. They walked in silence, allowing Keith to slip back into his own thoughts.

It seemed like forever since he had been on the _Pyxis, _the ship he had called home before President Baltar had ordered everyone to settle on New Caprica. The cylons had finally decided to leave the human race alone and they probably would have if not for Baltar's presidential election. After that, it had been one wrong decision after another. Though finally settling on a planet after months of space travel had been appealing even to him, Baltar had made continuous false promises in their first year on Caprica. One year later, there were still no permanent buildings and life was still as hard as it had been the day they landed. The planet's only good quality was that it had been hidden from the cylons, and even that didn't last. Baltar had surrendered to the cylons without a word. Keith had heard rumors that the election had initially been rigged in Roslin's favor, but that someone had caught the mistake. He cursed whoever that had been. Looking up to the sky, he assumed that wherever the fleet was, Roslin was back in charge and Baltar was in the brig facing numerous charges for murder, treason, and collaborating with the cylons.

Behind him, he heard the woman gasp, bringing his mind back to the present. He looked and saw a group of people walking towards the center of the city and the marketplace. They caught up with the group just in front of the main road. Just ahead, there were hundreds of people, both military and civilians. More were coming from all directions. Keith was momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer number of people. The evacuation had gone much worse than he had imagined.

* * * * * *

NEW CAPRICA CITY - DURING THE FINAL MOMENTS OF THE SECOND EXODUS

Lieutenant Daniel Melvin threw himself to the ground as gunfire from the cylons hit the ground where he had been standing a moment before. He landed a bit harder than he had planned, banging his elbow into the butt of his rifle. Getting up into a crouch, he stayed put as more bullets rained down. The whine of raiders was unending as they flew by overhead. He kept his head down, covered with his free hand as the sound of bullets hitting the sand got closer. Then he heard a new sound. He risked glancing upwards and saw _Galactica _falling towards them, having jumped directly into the atmosphere. The ship dropped swiftly, its bottom turning orange from the heat of descent. Small specks emerged from the fire surrounding the _Galactica_, vipers had been launched. He had been a pilot, and that maneuver had to be quite a thrill. _Galactica _continued to descend through the atmosphere, but then jumped away, leaving an outline of fire in its wake.

"Vipers, everybody hold, hold." That was Chief Tyrol, up ahead near the gate of the detention center. The vipers roared by overhead and the chief yelled for everybody to take cover seconds before two missiles hit the guard tower. Daniel stayed down as the tower exploded, followed quickly by the gate.

"Lets go, go, go." The chief got up and ran towards the gate, followed by Colonel Tigh. The chief stopped at the gate waving the troops into the detention building. Daniel and three others waited a few steps from where they had crouched, bringing up the rear and staying outside to watch for cylons and help the troops carry people too weak or injured to one of the ships waiting to evacuate them from the planet.

Far ahead of him the first of the ships lifted off the ground and rose towards the sky. It was finally happening, after 4 months of occupation and a year of settlement, they were going to be back in space. Soon he would be walking along the cool decks of the ship, breathing the ship's air, and not having to worry about being to cold the minute he stepped out of his bunk. Daniel would be happy to wear a fresh, crisp uniform again and be back in the cockpit of a viper. He was anxious fly again and almost wished he had stayed with the fleet instead of choosing to settle on the planet.

Daniel heard sounds of movement behind him and turned to see the first of the troops coming back out with survivors. Men, women, and children all ran from the building, confused and scared. Some of them fell to the floor, crying or screaming, needing to be helped up by the troops and almost carried to the waiting ships. All of them looked as if they hadn't slept or been given much to eat. More troops came out of the building, carrying people between them or on stretchers. He saw one of the troops trying to lift the front of a stretcher with one hand while dragging a young boy in the other. The boy was crying and the solider was clearly having trouble, with the soldier at the other end of the stretcher carrying most of its weight. He picked up the boy, made sure that the trooper was able to shift the weight of the stretcher, and ran, joining the others as they headed away from the detention center.

Screams and explosions continued to assault his ears, and he saw civilians attempting to reach the ships, dogging explosions and gunfire. He handed the child to another trooper with a free hand and ran over to help an elderly man who had fallen. He moved further into the city and away from the ships, continuing to help people to their feet. Soon the first ships jumped, the sound of their FTL drives joining the constant drone of weapons fire. An explosion hit the tent right next to him and a wave of fire, dust and debris knocked him to the ground. His head hit the ground first, blurring his vision, and as the tent fell over onto him, something pointy and metal at the top of it slammed into his temple. He plunged into darkness.

* * * * * *

Daniel slipped in and out of consciousness, unaware of how much time passed as he lay beneath the tent. During these brief moments of partial, blurry, and distorted half- consciousness, he thought he heard a baby crying somewhere nearby him. He also thought he saw Gaius Baltar, of all people, and one of the blond-haired human cylon models wandering through the dust and mist, as if they were looking for something. Before the blackness completely overtook him, he saw one final thing, which he convinced himself was an illusion brought on by a probable concussion. For it seemed to be Baltar holding a baby wrapped in a blanket, standing between with the blond-haired cylon and the one who had claimed to be that reporter, something Biers. All three of them appeared to be staring down at the baby. Then his vision darkened and he silently laughed at himself, believing this to be the last thing he would ever see before he died.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Daniel came to inside a tent, lying on a cot and looking up into the eyes of a middle-aged woman. He lifted his hand to wipe his vision clear and saw the woman smile. He sat up slowly, expecting the woman to push him back down and was surprised when she put her hand behind his arm to support him as he sat up. The woman was dressed in the white garb of a civilian doctor. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat for a moment as wave of nausea hit him. He was still dressed in his uniform; he supposed hospital gowns were at a bit of a premium. He reached up and felt a bandage covering the part of his head where he had been hit with the tent, but otherwise he seemed unharmed. He turned to the doctor.

"I'm ok." He said. The tent he was in was lined wall to wall with cots and mattresses filled with patients. Those without beds lay on the floor with only thin sheets underneath them both groups of people were in much worse condition than he was, and he only saw one or two other doctors walking amongst them. The other people tending to the sick and injured appeared to be civilians with little or no medical training. His doctor could be seeing other patients and he wasn't about to take up space when it was clear that every bed could be used. She nodded and said "Just wait a few moments before you try to stand, but otherwise you're fine." She indicated the tent's opening. "There are a lot of people trying to organize everything outside."

"How's it looking?" He asked. The woman looked away from him, her eyes on the ground. "Not good." He nodded at her and she walked off. He got up off the bed and stood for a moment, the wave of dizziness already passing. He noticed his sidearm had been placed on a small table attached to the bed, still inside its holster. He reattached to his belt. Then he lifted the flap of the tent and went outside.

The air was chilly, as it normally was, but what sent a chill up his spine was the amount of people. They were everywhere, picking up tents and building fires. Some of them sat on crates or leaning against tents. The area was packed with men, women, and children, looking more rugged and worn out than they had during their entire time on New Caprica.

Daniel saw a man carrying a load of pans and other cooking gear. They were stacked in his arms in a tower which reached above the man's head. The pans at the top were threatening to fall over, upsetting the entire load. Daniel jogged over to him and offered to help. He steadied the tower as the man crouched and lowered his arms, allowing Daniel to grab the pans at the top.

"Thanks," the man said. He was dressed in civilian garb but wearing a military-style cap. Daniel followed the man across the marketplace, where another tent stood. Outside of the tent, a few men and women had started a fire, cooking up what looked like a stew, mostly made of broth and some vegetables that had been grown on New Caprica. Growing anything on the planet had been near impossible; however some determined farmers had found some land outside of the main city where at least a few things were able to grow. Daniel put the pans down near a growing collection of cookware and utensils. The man from whom he had taken some of the pans also put his load down, then turned to Daniel and stuck out his hand.

"Keith Ryder." He said. Daniel took his hand, "Daniel Melvin." "Are you in the military?" Keith asked. Daniel laughed a little, "Lieutenant, formally of the _Galactica_, but I don't think that makes much of a difference about now. A group of two men and three women walked up behind Keith with some tools. Keith glanced over the collection and indicated the tent adjacent to the one they were standing at now. The group moved off in that direction. Directly behind them, another small group approached.

"Did you find any medical supplies?" Keith asked them. A red-haired woman in the group shook her head, "Medicine was at a premium even before the cylons arrived," She said. "Whatever little that is left is already inside with the doctors." Keith nodded. Daniel turned to him "What can I do to help?."

Keith laughed. "I'm not really in charge, I arrived with one of the first groups, and most of them were coming from further out in the city. Some of them had all their belongings, plus some extra supplies. It gave me an idea that it would be a good idea to condense the city, bring in everything we could and sort it out here. There were people just sitting around. My father always told me that in a bad situation, if people were actively doing something, there was less time for them to sit around seeing how miserable their lives are."

Daniel nodded. "Sounds like a good start to me."

*******

Dr. Amanda Trevor helped a man with a high fever and a broken arm into the bed that the young lieutenant had vacated and made sure the man was comfortable. The lieutenant had immediately noticed that the situation in the tent was dire and had gotten out of the way as soon as he could. She hoped that there were more people like him outside helping everyone get organized. The past four months under cylon occupation had been tough, as had the year before that. To survive here now would be an even bigger challenge, and people needed someone who they could look to for leadership, like that young man.

Once the injured man was settled in the bed, she checked his arm to see how it was setting and gave him a dose of medication that would bring down the fever and help the man sleep. What little medication had been gathered was quickly running out. She knew that the people outside were trying to find more, but medicine had be scarce for over a year, with most of it on _Pegasus_, which was now gone with the rest of the fleet. Having done all she could for the injured man in the bed beside her, Dr. Trevor walked to the other side of the tent. In the corner sat her son, Jacen and her daughter Lindsey, who was had curled up on the floor with her head in Jacen's lap, sleeping soundly. Jacen was awake, and looked up at her with a small smile. She smiled back, amazed yet again at how much her son had grown up. He was 22, and making the final transition from young man to adult. Before they had landed on New Caprica he had been studying to become an engineer and had worked as a deck hand aboard their ship.

She knew that this tent was probably not the best place for her kids to be, but after recent events she couldn't bear to let them out of her sight. She bent down and kissed her son on his head, then reached over to the low table next to him and wiped her hands with disinfectant before standing again and returning to her patients.

********

By the next day, a lot had been accomplished. A lot of supplies had been left behind, and what hadn't been enough for the 38,000 people living here before the evacuation was certainly enough for the smaller group left behind, at least for the time being. The remaining population of the city now totaled just under 900 men, women, and children. Though most people were working, going through the supplies and sorting them, building fires, cooking, and warming water for basic needs, they looked demoralized. Many thought that the fleet might come back for them. Others believed that had been abandoned. Rumor was spreading that the fleet had believed the cylons nuked the planet when they left, leaving no survivors. This would all have to be addressed soon, though Daniel had no idea how to do it.

Keith approached Daniel, who was staring up at the detention center, which towered over their measly tent city. "I've set a team to deal with the…" He paused for a moment, looking a bit ill. "….bodies." Daniel nodded. It was a gruesome task, but it had to be done, no matter if they were going to be here for a few days or a few years.

"Has anybody been in there?" He asked, still looking out at the detention center. Keith followed his gaze and then turned back to face him "It's not a place anyone would care to visit willingly, a few of them probably spent some extended time in there over the past four months, myself included."

Daniel nodded, understanding. He, along with much of the remaining population of New Caprica had seen what the cylons had done to some people, including Colonel Tigh. However, the cylons, like the fleet, had abandoned the planet. "There might be some stuff in there we could use, things we couldn't find," He said.

NEW CAPRICA DETENTION CENTER

The detention center was deserted. The temperature inside was about the same as the temperature outside, as all the doors had been left open during the escape. Main power was obviously down and lights flickered overhead as Daniel and Keith led a small group through its empty corridors. Daniel and Keith took point, with their sidearms out. The other armed member of their group was Malcolm, an older man who was a retired military officer from the first cylon war, brining up the rear and carrying a semi-automatic. Between them, unarmed, were Thomas and Ryan. They had been chosen due to their respective talents, Thomas was an engineer and Ryan was a computer programmer. The plan was to scope out the place for resources, and also determine if the detention center could be used as living quarters. While Daniel certainly didn't expect anyone to want to live a prison, he also suspected that the detention center couldn't be all cells. After all, the cylons, at least the humanoid ones, had to live somewhere. From all military reports, he knew the humanoid cylons ate, sweat, and appeared to be susceptible to the same pressures as any human, so it followed that they would have to sleep somewhere as well. Daniel explained this to Keith, who then said that he always thought of the cylons as sleeping in alcoves set in the walls of their ships, complete with a flashing disk above their heads.

Their search so far, however, had proved neither of their theories. Besides numerous cells, the only other rooms they had encountered were a few offices and meeting rooms. The majority of the offices contained an illumined panel covered with a layer of shallow water. Ryan assumed this to be the equivalent of a computer for the cylons, but he had no idea how to even interact with it, much less try to take it apart to rewire it. The only normal computer interface they had found was in the processing center, which only contained information on prisoner locations. Ryan had found that the computer was a closed system and did not seem to integrate with any of the cylon computer systems. The complex was massive, however, and Daniel and Keith were determined to check it out completely.

In the basement of the facility, the lights had gone out entirely. Their flashlights shed harsh beams of light over more prison cells, more bare concrete walls. After crossing the expansive basement, they came to another stairwell. Instead of leading them back up to the main level, which they had already explored, the stairs led to a long corridor they hadn't been to. The group followed the corridor to the right, where they came upon a door which had been blown off its hinges. Natural light spilled out of the room. Daniel and Keith entered the room, and were both momentarily shocked by its appearance.

Stairs led down to a fully furbished apartment. Keith whistled. "I'm certainly glad you were right, Daniel." Daniel offered no response, because his gaze was locked on a body lying at the bottom of the stairs. Keith saw what he was looking at. It was a cylon, but not of the metal variety. "One of the human models, right?" He asked. Daniel nodded. "A copy of the one we found on Ragnar station right after the attacks."

"Yeah, I recognize him from when President Roslin first told us about the cylons looking like us." Keith replied. Daniel descended the steps. Dried blood ran from the cylon's neck to the carpet. "He was stabled, and it wasn't too pleasant either." Daniel ventured.

**FINALLY AN UPDATE. I HAD MOST OF THIS CHAPTER WRITTEN WHEN I WROTE THE PROLOGUE BUT THE STRUCTURE WAS ALL OFF. SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. NOT SURE HOW LONG IT WILL BE TIL THE NEXT CHAPTER, I KNOW WHERE I WANT TO GO WITH THE STORY I'M JUST NOT SURE HOW TO GET THERE YET. I ALSO WANT TO DELVE DEEPER INTO THE CHARACTERS AND EXPAND ON SOME OF THE SMALLER ROLES IN THE STORY. THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL PROBABLY DEAL WITH THAT AND THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER WILL JUMP AHEAD A FEW WEEKS TO GET INTO WHAT WILL HOPEFULLY BE THE MAIN PLOT OF THE STORY. I WAS GOING TO SAVE THAT FOR MUCH LATER AND DO A SURVIVAL STORY, BUT I FOUND THAT HARD TO WRITE. (IF YOU WANT TO SEE THAT, GO WATCH THE FIRST SEASON OF LOST, ITS A GREAT CHARACTER DRAMA AND SURVIVAL STORY BEFORE YOU GET INTO THE MYSTERIES AND CRAZINESS.......ANYWAY, HOPE YOU ENJOYED, I'M PROBABLY GOING TO WORK ON ANOTHER STORY WHILE I FIGURE OUT THE REST OF THIS ONE, SO BE PATIENT. REVIEWS WELCOME. **


End file.
